A fraction of a confidential hazards report once characterized as a “worst case scenario” for the Co-op Refinery Complex (CRC) in Regina has been released publicly after a court decision.

Titled Major Hazards Risk Assessment Report (MHRA), it states “major incident consequences, individual and societal risk profiles were calculated for possible releases from the plant into the surrounding community.” It was prepared in 2012 as required for city and provincial approval of a planned expansion at the refinery.

While the report suggests most risks fell within industry guidelines, one area fell outside that criteria — pipelines carrying crude oil that run through a right of way in a residential area, which includes high-density housing and a high school. The report suggested more frequent in-line inspections “with prudent action on anomalies” and lower operating pressure to reduce “failure frequency” of the pipelines.

Brad DeLorey, the refinery’s director of communications, said Monday those measures were already in place at the time of the July 2012 report and continue today. He said the “pipeline corridor,” which runs through a field in north Regina, gets in-line inspections annually (instead of the usual three to five years); workers drive it every four to six weeks; and aerial surveillance is done weekly.

“Public safety has always been our top priority, and this report validates that,” DeLorey added.

A confidential report for the Consumers’ Co-operative Refinery Complex.Regina Leader-Post

Although a judge allowed release of the cover page, a brief executive summary, a page titled “scope and purpose” and the conclusion, some 48 pages in between remain sealed. Likely among those is what were described in court as graphics depicting how neighbourhoods might be affected if the worst case came to pass.

Consumers’ Co-operative, which operates the site, went to court to oppose any release of the MHRA. But as Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Timothy Keene notes in his recent decision, the company later moderated its position and suggested release of those five pages, as well as 15 pages of appendices that include a glossary of terms, approval applications from the city and province, and a bibliography.

Relying on an affidavit provided by an engineer who drafted the report, Keene was persuaded that “over disclosure of the MHRA could be harmful to the public — i.e. nondisclosure of records can actually promote public safety in certain circumstances.”

Michael Matusiewicz’s affidavit notes the report includes descriptions and graphics to help explain and show the parts of the refinery where “the worst possible accidents could occur.”

“By distilling this information into a more digestible form, it is more accessible and may be used as a potential ‘playbook’ or instructions for any person or group interested in causing the maximum amount of the damage for the Regina Refinery,” he adds.

The issue of disclosure landed in court after the Information and Privacy Commissioner recommended partial release in response to an access request by the CBC. (The Leader-Post had also filed a similar request.) The refinery then appealed a decision by the city and province to comply. Arguments were heard in August. Keene issued his decision in mid-October, but it was initially sealed with the rest of the file.

The refinery hired Marsh Risk Consulting to prepare the document. Consumers’ had to provide it to the City of Regina and Ministry of the Environment as part of the approval for its expansion.

The study concluded “that although the effects from fire, explosion and toxic gas releases can leave the CRC site, the probability to do so is low enough for these large events that the risk is acceptable according to accepted guidelines.”

Although the bulk of the report remains confidential, DeLorey believes the public can still be confident the refinery’s risks are low and safety policies on par or above other refineries around the world. “These are third-party experts that are giving the validation,” he added.

According to the executive summary, one potential risk — the release of chlorine — was eliminated in 2012 by removing the chemical from the site.

The report’s authors assessed risk using land use guidelines set by the now defunct Major Industrial Accidents Council of Canada. The report also notes the risk to the “existing public” — new neighbourhoods have since been planned in that area — was “acceptable” using standards set by a health and safety watchdog in Britain.

The report says health, safety and environment processes and programs “are a large part of why the site has never had a loss of containment incident within the complex which injured persons outside of its fenceline in the history of the site.”

An explosion in October 2011 did injure 52 workers on-site, and another that rocked the city on Christmas Eve 2013 was heard as far away as Balgonie, but no one was injured.

In its conclusion, the report stresses risk probabilities were based on fatally injuring people outside of the site, and didn’t calculate probabilities for those becoming very ill or simply being able to detect some sort of release from the facility.

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